Your End is Near
This story is written by Mist! Enjoy! Prolouge As Snakepaw turned her head around, two red eyes peared at her. The shadow then walked closer, and closer. She began to see the creature as it stepped into the moonlight. It was a huge, hairy dog, with long white teeth. It's pelt was missing some fur, and it's scars were deep. The creature came closer, and closer. It had a foul smell, and the creature was scarier, and scarier as it came closer. A voice called her, You will not escape this time; I will find you, and end you. '' Snakepaw then began to run, she couldn't help it, she had to, she needed to. Instead of the dog sitting there, in shock as Snakepaw thought, it bolted after her. She then screamed, a voice called, ''Snakepaw, Snakepaw, Snakepaw, come on it's time to get up! '' Snakepaw found herself at a dead end of the forest, the creature then yowled," Snakepaw, wake up!" Snakepaw instantly woke up, her yellow eyes scanning the den. ''Was it all a dream? ''She thought, ''Or could it possibly have been real? '' "Are you still asleep, Snakepaw?" Asked a familiar voice. Snakepaw turned around, it was only Emberpaw, she sighed of relief. "I'm awake now," meowed Snakepaw. "Come on, we have a patrol today," said Emberpaw. Snakepaw heard a voice inside her head say, ''I will get you, even if it's the last thing I do. Chapter 1 Snakepaw looked at the snow, it melted under her paws. As it melted it made memories come back to her. You see, Snakepaw didn't start off well. Her father was Meltclaw, and her mother was Otterpelt; her brother, sister, and mother didn't make it past the birth, but she and her other brother did. Her father then fell into great depression after his mate's death, and left the clan. He left left Snakepaw and her brother, Sootpaw, in the clan. Shortly after her father left the clan, he was found dead. The scent left on him was a clan cat's, but no one knew which one. It was either MoutainClan, GrassClan, StreamClan, or Snakepaw's clan, TreeClan. About a moon later, Sootpaw was killed. The scent was the same, and seemed to smell like a GrassClan cat, but the scent quickly changed to a StreamClan scent, then MoutainClan's scent, and finally TreeClan's scent. Snakepaw had only two friends in the clan, Emberpaw, a ginger tom with gray spots, and Flowerkit, a gray she-cat with black paws, tail, and ears. Snakepaw then padded forward slushing through the snow, her black fur was getting mattered, and moist. She then turned, looking in the trees ahead of her. "Come on, you don't want to be late for the clan meeting, do you?" Asked her mentor, Frostbite. Snakepaw looked up, she then sighed. "I'm coming," Snakepaw called back. Snakepaw ran to her mentor, Frostbite, with great speed. A single small log stood in her path, but she managed to quickly jump over it with her great strength. Snakepaw was one of the best apprentices in all the clan, but she wasn't noticed that much by the leader, Breezestar, as others. Snakepaw then landed hevily on the ground, Frostbite narrowed his eyes at her. "Sorry," Snakepaw meowed softly. "You better be, now we'll be late to the meeting," yelled Frostbite. Snakepaw hopped onto her paws and quickly scurried to the crowd of cats's yells ahead of her. "Where are you going?" Asked Frostbite. "Off to the meeting, of course," replied Snakepaw. Frostbite, stood very still for a second, and then ran after Snakepaw. Snakepaw had barely arrived in time for the clan meeting, Frostbite slowed down and padded behind the other warriors. "Attention all cats, I have important news," yelled Breezestar. Many cats still chattered. "Quiet, do you want to be in trouble?" Yelled the deputy, Skywind. There were still quiet murmurs. Skywind stood taller, his black and white fur stood up, Blueflower, the medicine cat, stood behind him, with her apprentice, Featherpaw. Breezestar's amber eyes looked at all the clan, his whiskers stood up, and then let out a snarl. Everyone was quiet, maybe a little too quiet. Chapter 2 Snakepaw felt her mind twist, then she saw negative colors, sparks flying through the air, and her breath went tight, as she fainted onto the ground. Snakepaw opened her eyes a bit, and then heard some voices echoing to her. Will she wake up? Is she okay? When will she wake up? Snakepaw tried to stay awake to hear more, but she couldn't stay awake. As Snakepaw fell into her Dreamworld, she saw the same Beast waiting for her, but this time it didn't attack her, it said: "I exist in your mind for a reason and it is-" Snakepaw woke up in the medicine cat's den, the medicine cat apprentice, Featherpaw looked at her with a smile. "What are you smiling at?" Sandpaw asked. "Oh, nothing," Featherpaw purred. Snakepaw tried to stand up, but she fell on her paws. She tumbled into some sticks. "Are you okay?" Asked Featherpaw in a worried voice. "Snakepaw?" Said Blueflower as she padded into the den. Sandpaw failed again as she tried to stand up. Blueflower gave a small glance at Snakepaw and then gave Featherpaw an angry glance. "Featherpaw, may I speak to you?" Asked Blueflower. "Yes," Featherpaw replied shakily. Blueflower nudged Featherpaw forward, and then turned back to give Snakepaw a friendly smile. Snakepaw felt tired and needed to lay down she curled up like a kitten and soon fell asleep. Chapter 3 Snakepaw felt cold as she tried to take a breath in. She slowly opened her eyes, she noticed she was swimming in cold water. I took her a long time to finally realized what she was doing. Snakepaw swam like a fish to the surface, trying to get breath. As she swam faster and faster, her breath went out more and more. She eventually saw the surface and jumped out of the water. Snakepaw splashed back into the water, and returned to the surface. She grasped all the air she could so she could grasp onto the shore of the lake. She swam faster and faster, until she could and faster, she pounced onto the lake's surface. "Well, well, well." Said a voice from behind her. This time it was not the dog to her surprise, it was a small tom with amber eyes. His other features were not revealed due to the shadow appearance. Snakepaw tried to glance at him to see him, but she couldn't see anything. "I see that you've made it this far," said the tom. "Who are you?" Asked Snakepaw. "Sssshhh, young one. It will be revealed soon enough," replied the tom. "What do you want from me?" Wondered Snakepaw. "Oh, you'll understand when the time comes, young one." Said the tom. "Stop calling me 'young one'!" Yelled Snakepaw. "Shut up, before I make you more mouse-brained then you already are." "What makes me so different from others?" "Mouse-brained one, I have no paicence for you, now be gone!" Yelled the tom. Snakepaw woke up to see Twilightpaw and Emberpaw. They both smiled happily at her. "Good sun-high," purred Twilightpaw. "What happened?" Wondered Snakepaw. "You seemed to pass out again, a dead cat was found in the lake today," said Emberpaw. Snakepaw gasped, she felt horrible. Did she kill the cat that drowned? "Who drowned?" Wondered Snakepaw. "Featherpaw, the medicine cat apprentice," said Twilightpaw in a sad tone. "That's horrible!" Yelled Snakepaw. Did I cause this? She asked herself. Chapter 4 Snakepaw padded away from Twilightpaw and Emberpaw. "Where are you going?" Wondered Twilightpaw. Snakepaw ignored Twilightpaw and kept moving forward, she padded into the forest as quietly as she could. A cool breeze fell through the woods as Snakepaw padded through the forest. There was no sound, except for the crunching sound under Snakepaw's feet. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Snakepaw stopped walking, she kept hearing the sound. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! She thought her ears where playing tricks with her. Crunch! The crunching stopped. Snakepaw smelled the air, it was a familiar smell, but she couldn't tell what it was. Snakepaw turned around, she saw two eyes glaring at her, she paused when she saw this. The creature began to run to her, she ran as fast as she could from it. Faster and faster. She finally arrived at camp, and darted into the apprentices' den. It's empty. Snakepaw thought to herself. Snakepaw turned, she saw the cats near the leader's rock. It must be for the burial ceremony She thought. She crawled out of the apprentices' den and walked to the leader's rock. Windstar crawled up the rock, he looked as if he were to shed a tear. It took a while before Blueflower came out of her den, she was sobbing with Featherpaw's mother, Turtlestep. Snakepaw crawled into a ball, but not because she was tired, but because she felt guilty. Did I cause this? She asked herself. "Attention al-all cats," Windstar said in a shaky voice," Today we have a burial ceremony."